Trust and reputation in the sharing economy: The role of personal photos in Airbnb |
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| Affiliation: | 1. School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, 92 Xidazhi Street, Harbin, 150001, PR China;2. School of Hotel & Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 17 Science Museum Road, TST-East, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR;3. William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Pkwy., Las Vegas, NV 89154, United States;1. Faculty of Technology, Westerdals Oslo School of Arts, Communication and Technology, Oslo, Norway;2. School of Business, Reykjavik University, Reykjavik, Iceland;3. Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom;1. School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 17 Science Museum Road, TST East, Kowloon, Hong Kong;2. Department of Marketing, Faculty of Economics, University of Alicante, P.O. Box 99, 03080 Alicante, Spain;1. IULM University, Department of Business, Law, Economics and Consumer Behaviour, via Carlo Bo 1, 20143 Milano, Italy;2. University of Insubria, Department of Law, Economics and Cultures, via Sant’Abbondio 12, 22100 Como, Italy;3. University of Portsmouth, Department of Marketing and Sales, Richmond Building, Portland Street, PO13DE Portsmouth, UK |
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| Abstract: | ‘Sharing economy’ platforms such as Airbnb have recently flourished in the tourism industry. The prominent appearance of sellers' photos on these platforms motivated our study. We suggest that the presence of these photos can have a significant impact on guests' decision making. Specifically, we contend that guests infer the host's trustworthiness from these photos, and that their choice is affected by this inference. In an empirical analysis of Airbnb's data and a controlled experiment, we found that the more trustworthy the host is perceived to be from her photo, the higher the price of the listing and the probability of its being chosen. We also find that a host's reputation, communicated by her online review scores, has no effect on listing price or likelihood of consumer booking. We further demonstrate that if review scores are varied experimentally, they affect guests' decisions, but the role of the host's photo remains significant. |
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| Keywords: | Sharing economy Airbnb Trustworthiness Attractiveness Online reviews Electronic word of mouth Decision making |
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